Registration for the ISTQB® Foundation level certification and the ISTQB® Add-On Practical Tester by A4Q exams does not require any prerequisites.

Registration for the ISTQB® Advanced Level, Specialist and Agile exams requires the ISTQB® Foundation level certification.

Taking a training course is recommended but not mandatory to take any exam.

For each certification, ISTQB has created a syllabus, which summarizes the knowledge needed to pass the exam.

Preparation on the topics of the syllabus is recommended, obtained by taking a course provided by an accredited trainer or with personal study, combined with exercises or supported by practical experience.

As for training courses, it is recommended to only take exam preparation courses provided by ISTQB® accredited training providers

Exams are conducted online in Live Remote Proctored mode and consist of questions that may be in Italian or English (depending on the type of exam and upon request made at the time of registration).

The ISTQB® Certified Tester exams are based on multiple-choice questions. The ISTQB® Add-On Practical Tester by A4Q exams are based on open-ended questions.

Each multiple-choice question includes a query and a list of suggested answers (options). Unless otherwise specified, there are 4 options, of which only one is correct. In some cases, there may be 5 options with 2 correct answers; in such cases, the number of correct choices is specified in the question text.

Open-ended questions require you to write your answer directly in the most complete and comprehensible way possible. To ensure the professionalism of the exams, all the questions of the ITA-STQB exams are reviewed by the international reference groups, or have been formulated by the same groups of experts.

The exam set is composed in accordance with the international ISTQB® rules, in terms of:

• Proportional distribution of questions based on the syllabus chapter contents.

• Distribution of multiple-choice questions across the different types:

  • K1 = recall-based content,

  • K2 = conceptual content,

  • K3 = practical exercises requiring the application of knowledge and/or techniques,

  • K4 = exercises requiring contextual analysis.

Scoring rules

Each question is assigned and marked with a specific score. The scoring criteria for the multiple-choice questions are as follows:

• The full score for the question if the selected answer is “correct.” A correct answer means that all required responses are accurate.

• 0 (zero) if even one of the selected answers is “incorrect,” or if multiple answers are selected such that the choice becomes unrecognizable, or if no answer is provided.

The scoring criteria for open-ended questions depend on the completeness and correctness of the answer. The scoring is performed by an expert who has the task of verifying and validating the answers provided by the candidate.

The exams:

• Certified Tester Foundation Level

• Certified Tester Advanced Level Test Automation Engineering 2.0

• Certified Tester Advanced Level Agile tester 2.0

• Specialist Acceptance Testing

• Specialist AI Testing

• Specialist Automotive Software Tester

• Specialist Finance Testing

• Specialist Mobile Application Testing

• Specialist Performance Testing

• Specialist Quality in DevOps

• Specialist Security Test Engineer

• Specialist Test Automation Strategy

• Specialist Testing with Generative AI

• Agile Tester

These exams consist of 40 questions.

The Certified Tester Advanced Level Test Management 3.0 exam consists of 50 questions.

The Certified Tester Advanced Level Test Analyst 4.0 exam consists of 45 questions (for the v3.1 2021 version, now end-of-life, there are 40 questions).

The Certified Tester Advanced Level Technical Test Analyst exam consists of 45 questions.

The ISTQB® Add-On Practical Tester by A4Q exam consists of 15 open-ended questions.

All exams are passed upon achieving at least 65% of the maximum possible score.

The exams are conducted online in Live Remote Proctored mode and consist of questions that can be in Italian or English (upon request made at the time of registration)

The duration of the ISTQB® Certified Tester exam varies depending on the certification level.

For the following certifications:

• Certified Tester Foundation Level

• Agile Tester Foundation

• Specialist Acceptance Testing

• Specialist AI Testing

• Specialist Automotive Software Tester

• Specialist Finance Testing

• Specialist Mobile Application Testing

• Specialist Quality in DevOps

• Specialist Test Automation Strategy

• Specialist Testing with Generative AI

• ISTQB® Add-On Practical Tester by A4Q

the duration is 60 minutes (for candidates taking the exam in a language other than their native language, the duration is extended to 75 minutes).

For the following certifications:

• Specialist Security Test Engineer

The duration is 75 minutes (for candidates taking the exam in a language other than their native language, the duration is extended to 94 minutes).

For the following certifications:

• Specialist Performance Testing

• Advanced Test Automation Engineering 2.0

• Advanced Agile Tester 2.0

The duration is 90 minutes (for candidates taking the exam in a language other than their native language, the duration is extended to 113 minutes).

For the following certifications:

• Advanced Level Test Management 3.0

• Advanced Level Test Analyst

• Advanced Level Technical Test Analyst

The duration is 120 minutes (for candidates taking the exam in a language other than their native language, the duration is extended to 150 minutes).

To obtain an ISTQB® certificate, it is necessary to successfully pass the exam provided by ITA-STQB.

You will receive your certificate via email (in PDF format); the certificate contains, among other details: your name, the ISTQB® Certified logo, the certificate's identification number, the certification date, and the level you have achieved.

To give visibility to your certification, your name may be included, if you have provided authorization, in the list of certificates issued in Italy and in the international register (Successful Candidate Register) available on the ISTQB® website.

ISTQB® certificates have unlimited validity.

Online certification exams can be scheduled independently after registration, according to the procedures described in the Online Exam Guide.

The cost of all ISTQB® certification exams is €230.00 + VAT.

To register for certification exams, you can use the online booking service, which allows e-commerce payments via PayPal, credit card, or bank transfer.

Payments via bank transfer must be made to:

Associazione ITA-STQB
IBAN: IT 05 L 03069 33761 1000 0000 9285
BIC/SWIFT Code: BCITITMM

IMPORTANT: The payment reference must always include the name of the company/individual concerned and the requested certification.

For companies interested in exams for a significant number of participants, it is possible to purchase prepaid vouchers, which allow flexible management of registrations.

For more information, please contact info@ita-stqb.org.

The complete ITA-STQB exam regulation comply with the rules established by the international bodies responsible for the certification schemes offered in Italy.

Each participant in the certification exam is required to be familiar with the exam rules before taking it. The document, in PDF format, is available for download.